The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-02-22

election In answer to Senator Spooner, the
witness described the shooting of three colored
men at the Chapel Hill precinct in 1884 Nc
effort was made by the county officials to appre
bend the perpetrators of the outrage, nor was
any reward offered for them. Sc
far as he knew the county grand jury
never made any investigation of the
matter The usual Republican majority
III what was called Washington precinct was
about twelve hundred. About o'clock in the
evening of the last election day the witness
heard that kilograms to the Democratic leaders
showed the election had gone Republican by un-
usually large majorities. A short while after
ward word came to witness that Judge Kirk, the
Democratic county judge, was trying to provoke
riot He went to the place, and found Kirk
doing his best to provoke difficulty with Moore.
Judge Kirk cursed him brutally, and told him TO
come down the railroad track and he would set
tie his hash. The witness told Judge Kirk it
was his duty as county judge to preserve peace,
and not to provoke a riot. Judge Kirk had his
hands in his pockets, and the witness could see
the outline of revolver. Kinks friends were
standing around with their hands in their pistol
pockets. Judge Kirk had his bulldozers sta
toned around, so that the moment fighting be-
gan the Republicans would have been killed.
The witness and his friends understood the
game, and took the abuse. Judge Kirk had
everything cut and dried to provoke riot. Kirk
was mad at being beaten Later in the day Kirk
and other Democrats were in consultation, and
the witness became satisfied that Kirk in
tended to organize the -klux and de-
stroy the ballotboxes. Judge Kirk went to
Jewellers THAI evening and the witness said it
was the general sentiment of the county that
the ballot boxes were destroyed at Kinks insti-
CATION. The witness was AS certain OF 1t as OF
anything he had not positive knowledge about
Next morning word to Brenham that
young man named Ford had been killed while
sitting in the eection-room, by a negro who had
fired through the window The report was also
circulated that the negroes had been told to
shoot down any white man seen around the
election places. The witness knew the reports
were not true, because the negroes were afraid
to shoot at a white man, and would stand almost
anything before they would do it. Afterwards.
intelligence came that the man killed De-
weese Bolton, and the witness felt conf fdent that
Kirk had been at Flewellens, organized Bolton
Ford and others into Ku kluX, and ATTEMPTED to
destroy the ballot-box, and that it resulted in
the shooting of Bolton. Bolton was very in
innate friend of Kinks. and had but short
time before been in consultation with him. Ford
was another of Kinks friends. The witness never
knew OF any effort being made to discover
| and punish the authors of the outrages. Judge
Kirk and his friends circulated reports that the
memorialist had instructed negroes to go to tha
ballot-box armed, and shoot white who
should be found 'monkeying around it. Such
| reports caused very bitter feeling in the COM
mnnity. If the colored men who were arrested
and hanged could have been tried upon wrlts of
| habeas corpus the witness that every
| thing would have been disclosed as to who rlfed
the halot-boxes After the lynchIng Mr. Lewis
Bryan told the witness that 1T was Impossible to
| keep the bulldozers off the leading Republicans
| any longer The men who hanged the negroes
were determined men, and were organized. The
witness said he was unwilling to leave unless he
could sell his homestead. Bryan asked his price.
and the witness said 81, 800. Bryan went out 10
| try and sell it, so that witness might leave. He
| came back next day and said the most he could
get for it was 81, ,l50. Bryan told the witness at
| the same time that men gathering to do
him personal injury, and advised him to take
| thu money and leave Immediately. Bryan
| also told the witness that Moore must
| also leave. and they (the Democrats) would ar
range to buy his farm. The witness made cam
| paen speeches, but no incendiary speeches. Ho
| had charged that Judge Kirk was responsible
| for the stealing of the school fund, and that was
| the nearest he ever came to making An incen-
| diary speech. The witness still believed that it
was to conceal irregularities of this nature that
Judge Kirk l. Lad determined not to go out of Of
flee. Judge Kirk was in the habit of going to
| Republican meetings with six or seven armed
men. Some o. these men were at the time un-
der indictment for murder. Judge Kirk was ac-
| customed to demand division of time. Colored
Democrats tried to break up a Republican
convention. and afterwards they beat Republic
an negroes over the heads with revolvers. One
| of the assailants being convicted and fined,
| Judge Kirk paid the fine.